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Fort Vancouver Mobile - A video overview

Courtesy of: Research Assistant Aaron May of Washington State University Vancouver's Creative Media and Digital Culture program. Produced in 2011.

Video highlights from the apps (36-minute version)

This montage provides a sampling of some of the video media in the Fort Vancouver Mobile apps. This app is much more than just a video distribution system, but these videos show the variety of content, from expositional segments to new journalism to those intended to prompt the development of interactive narratives.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

One of the biggest goals I have had, from the beginning of this project, was to explore the use of all types of media forms as delivered through mobile technologies, particularly in relation to the intersection of physical and digital space. As part of that goal, I have been intrigued by ideas about how music can transform the perception of a place. But before I could do deep research on such a phenomenon, I needed some great period music to put into the FVM apps, which then could be turned into research instruments for an examination of the music-place dynamic.Thankfully, I met Richard Kriehn, a few months ago through the School of Music at Washington State University Pullman, and we worked out a partnership that also included the talents of Paul Ely Smith. Kriehn and Smith were able to research, practice and record period music from the mid-1800s that would be appropriate for embedding through mobile technologies at my primary research site, the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. That latter part still is in the works (will keep you posted), but I wanted to share the music now, so you can hear what we are working with. Annotations below were provided by Kriehn and Smith. ... Enjoy!St. Anne’s Reel: The origin of this tune is sketchy, at best. Original title, Reel de Ste. Anne. Appears to be linked to Saint Anne’s Bay, located on the eastern side of Cape Breton Island. Was first recorded by Joseph Allard (1873-1947) in 1931. Allard was born in Maine, but moved to Quebec at an early age. (Canadian Encyclopedia/ The Virtual Gramophone-Canadian Historical Sound Recordings).

La
Bastringue: An
old and famous French-Canadian dance song/tune. Here is the best description I
found on the web... La Bastringue is usually danced as the fifth or sixth part
of a long Québec quadrille. The tune is a popular party song that tells a story
of a young "Mademoiselle" who is asked to dance the
"Bastringue" by a rather older "Monsieur," who then finds
that he's just not up to the task. The dance is also known as Les Confitures
(the fruit preserves). According to Francis Coleman, La Bastringue "is
older than most of its counterparts. When danced by earlier French colonialists
in America, it was almost a sedate dance, without the benefit of fast tapping
loudly or the more raucus noises that are now customary." (http://www.phantomranch.net/folkdanc/dances/labastri.htm).

Father
Kelly's Jig: This is one of thousands of
traditional Irish jigs, of uncertain origin. I chose it because it has the
broken arpeggios typical of jigs found throughout the dance music repertoire of
the British Isles popular in the early 19th century.

Money
Musk:It is an old tune from Scotland. Here's a good
description... The tune--or at least its first two strains--is a Scottish reel
from the end of the eighteenth century. Francis O'Neill ("Irish Folk
Music", p. 204) mentions a set, entitled "Sir Archibald Grant of
Moniemusk's Reel," published ca. 1800, and it is in the Northumbrian small
pipes collection "Peacocks Tunes" (ca. 1801), p. 2. It is a standard
feature of nineteenth-century tunebooks; see for example Knauff, "Virginia
Reels" (1839), vol. 1, #1 "Killie Krankie"; "Winner's
Collection of Music for the Violin", p. 55 "Highland Fling";
"One Thousand Fiddle Tunes", p. 31 "Money Musk--Reel" and
p. 128 "Money Musk--Strathspey." Twentieth-century sets show the tune
to be well-established in Northern American tradition; see for example
Linscott, "Folk Songs of Old New England", p. 98; Burchenal,
"American Country-Dances, Volume I", p. 55; Ford, "Traditional
Music of America", p. 52. (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/afcreed:@field%28NUMBER+@band%28afcreed+13705b17%29%29)

Fisher’s Hornpipe: Was first published in 1780 by J. Fishar of
London. Labeled as “Hornpipe 1” in Sixteen Cotillons, Sixteen Minuets, 12
Allemandes and 12 Hornpipes.

En Roulant Ma Boule: Supposedly originated in the 15th
century, En Roulant… is possibly the
most popular French-Canadian folksong.
Nicholas Garry, deputy governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, mentions
the men singing variations of this tune in Nute’s The Voyageur (p129).

Soldier’s Joy: John Glen lists a Scottish publication of the
tune in 1779. The tune appears in almost
every large collection of fiddle tunes during the 19th and 20th
centuries. For dancers, it was referred
to as a “French-Four,” and was used for square dances, reels and group dances.

Quand J’etais chez mon pere: “Quand…” is noted in Nicholas Garry’s diary in
September 6, 1821, according to Nute’s The
Voyageur (pp122-123).

The Nameless Lassie: The song lyrics are credited to James
Ballantine, a poet and a stained-glass artist (1806-1877) and the tune is credited
to William Marshall, composer of Scottish fiddle music (1748-1833).
In an 1887 publication of The
Popular Songs of Scotland with their Appropriate Melodies, credit for the
tune is given to Alexander MacKenzie (1819-1857).

Rickett’s Hornpipe: Supposedly named for John Bill Ricketts, this
tune came from England to the US around 1792.
By the 1850s it was a very popular fiddle tune. Also known as “Aldrige Hornpipe.” (Ryan’s #124).

We also are beta testing The Grand Emporium of the West tablet app, designed for use in middle school history classes. If you want to help, please download the app and send us a detailed report of your experience. That email is
here. Thanks!